Tag Archives: notorious

I hope at least some of you have managed to go see the new Notorious biopic in your local theatre. The movie, based on the life of the Notorious B.I.G. is pretty entertaining and worth the couple of bucks. But there are lots of things you should know. I just caught the film, so I’ll do my best to give you a little review.

First of all, don’t go in thinking it’s going to be any sort of documentary. It’s a film with plenty of poetic and creative license taken to make it entertaining. They really go out of their way to glorify Biggie and humanize Puffy, which can be annoying at times. And frankly, they make 2Pac look and act like a complete tool.

Now, there’s no way for me to know if Pac really did wile out like that and if it was his paranoia that started the whole east-west coast feud, but I thought it was a tad disrespectful to portray him like that.

Jamal Woolard, the cat who got to play Biggie, has apparently had very little acting experience. I’ve got to say he did a pretty decent job overall. His performance did seem, for the most part, flat. He excelled at the comedic aspects of Biggie’s personality and did less well at the drama. However, he seemed positively inspired durinng a scene at the recording studio where he first snaps on Lil’ Kim.

Oh Lil’ Kim, so much to say about her. Besides the gratuituous sex scenes she’s in, actress Naturi Naughton actually seemed to nail the character. Once again, there is definitely some creative license taken with it, and the real Lil’ Kim was absolutely livid about the way she was portrayed.

The reviews are mixed about the movie itself, with most seeming to agree that it’s a pretty facade and really seeks to make Biggie seem like a hero. They do try to show his mistakes (such as his arrests for dealing crack), but even these were sort of talked about in passing and seemed to be shown mainly as an opportunity for Biggie to hone his rhymes than as a serious life-altering mistake.

Puffy annoyed the hell out of me in this movie, I gotta say. They made him seem like a wise and humble philosopher. Not to knock his business sense, because he definitely is a shrewd businessman, but they really made an effort to make him look like a modest person just looking out for Biggie.

Problems aside, it’s still a decent film and worth checking out. Especially if you’re not too familiar with life and death of one of New York’s greatest rappers.